2004 Presidential Race

Anyone running for president has to raise a lot of money.
But candidates with a realistic chance of winning the election must
collect enormous sums for their campaigns. President Bush and Sen.
John Kerry, for example, raised a total of nearly half a billion
dollars in private contributions during the presidential primary
season. They did so under increased contribution limits
mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

As the Republican and Democratic nominees, Bush and Kerry
each received $74.6 million in government funding for the general election.
In return, they could not raise or spend private funds after accepting their
party's nomination. They were entitled to government matching funds during
the primaries, but turned them down to free themselves of federally mandated
spending limits. Their decision (and that of Howard Dean, who also rejected
matching funds) helped to make this presidential election the most expensive
in history.

Candidates who dropped out of the race prior to the general election:

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